Privacy Policy

1

Introduction

1.1

The Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England, otherwise known as Historic England (we, us and our) are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

1.2

This policy (together with our website Terms of Use) sets out the basis on which any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us. Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it.

1.3

For the purpose of the Data Protection Act 1998, the data controller is Historic England.

2

Information we may collect from you

2.1

We may collect and process the following data about you:

2.1.1

data that you provide by filling in forms on our website http://viewfinder.HistoricEngland.org.uk (the Site), including, but not limited to, data provided at the time of requesting any information or becoming a registered user;

2.1.2

data from surveys that we may, from time to time, use for research purposes, if you choose to respond to them;

2.1.3

communications you send to us, for example to report a problem with or submit feedback or comments regarding the Site; and

2.1.4

details of your visits to the Site and the resources that you access.

3

IP addresses and cookies

3.1

We may collect information about your computer including, where available, your IP address, operating system and browser type, for system administration and to report aggregate information to interested third parties. This is statistical data about our users' browsing actions and patterns, and does not identify any individual.

3.2

When we provide services, we want to make them easy, useful and reliable. Where services are delivered on the internet, this sometimes involves placing small amounts of information on your device, for example, computer or mobile phone. These include small files known as cookies. They cannot be used to identify you personally.
These pieces of information are used to improve services for you through, for example:

enabling a service to recognise your device so you don't have to give the same information several times during one task

recognising that you may already have given a username and password so you don't need to do it for every web page requested

measuring how many people are using services, so they can be made easier to use and there's enough capacity to ensure they are fast

Author: Historic England
Purpose: Once you have logged on with username and password, so you don't have to do it for every Web page you request from our service and to remember your selections or preferences that you've already made when looking at information or using a service. This cookie stores first name, surname, regionalisation setting, site stored bookmarks and favourite properties.

EnglishHeritagePS

Author: Google
Purpose: So service is available when you want it and fast, we measure numbers and volumes of visitors. These also help us to understand what visitors want to use and not to use, so we can improve the service you receive and archive what is not used.

Author: Microsoft
Purpose: Once you have logged on with username and password, so you don't have to do it for every Web page you request from our service.

ASP.NET_SessionId

3.4

You may refuse to accept cookies by activating the setting on your browser which allows you to refuse the setting of cookies. However, if you select this setting, you may be unable to access certain parts of the Site. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you use the Site. The “Help” menu of the toolbar on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable cookies altogether. For more information about cookies and how to stop cookies being installed or how to delete existing cookies from your hard drive visit the following website: http://www.allaboutcookies.org.

4

How we process and store your information

4.1

The data that we collect from you is processed by staff who work either for us or for one of our service providers. Such staff may be engaged in, among other things, the provision of the services we offer through the Site, processing and fulfilling requests for information, receiving and sending communications, analysing data and providing marketing assistance. Our service providers' staff have access to personal information needed to perform their functions, but may not use it for other purposes. All information you provide to us is stored on our secure servers.

4.2

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to the Site; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access. Remember to close your browser when you have finished your user session. This will help to ensure that others do not access your personal information if you share your computer or use a computer in a public place such as a library or internet café.

5

Uses made of your information

5.1

We use information held about you in the following ways:

5.1.1

to enable us to provide you with the services we offer through the Site;

5.1.2

to provide you with information, products or services that you request from us or which we feel may interest you, where you have indicated that you wish to be contacted for such purposes by post, email, SMS, telephone or other means of electronic communication;

5.1.3

to ensure that content from the Site is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer;

5.1.4

to allow you to participate in any interactive features of our services, when you choose to do so; and

5.1.5

to notify you about changes to our services.

5.2

We may also use your data, or permit selected third parties to use your data, to provide you with information about third party goods and services which may be of interest to you and we or they may contact you about these, where you have indicated that you wish to be contacted for such purposes by post, email, SMS, telephone or other means of electronic communication.

5.3

If you do not want us to use your data for direct marketing purposes, or to pass your details on to third parties for marketing purposes, please check or un-check (as directed) the relevant box situated on the form on which we collect your data.

6

Disclosure of your information

6.1

We may share non-personal aggregate statistics about visitors to the Site, use and traffic patterns with connected or third parties. This is information which does not identify you personally.

6.2

We may disclose your personal information to any affiliated company of Historic England.

6.3

We may disclose your personal information to third parties:

6.3.1

if we or any of our assets are acquired by a third party or if we undergo a re-organisation or re-structuring, in which case personal data held by us will be one of the transferred assets; or

6.3.2

if we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our website Terms of Use or other agreements; or to protect our rights, property, or safety or those of third parties. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of crime prevention.

7

Your rights

7.1

You have the right to ask us not to process your personal data for marketing purposes. We will usually inform you (before collecting your data) if we intend to use your data for such purposes or if we intend to disclose your information to any third party for such purposes. You can exercise your right to prevent such processing by checking or un-checking (as directed) certain boxes on the forms we use to collect your data or by following the unsubscribe link on any marketing emails we send you. You can also exercise the right at any time by contacting us at archive@HistoricEngland.org.uk.

7.2

The Site may, from time to time, contain hyperlinks to and from internet sites operated by other organisations. If you follow a hyperlink to any of these sites, please note that they will have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to such sites.

8

Access to your information

The Data Protection Act 1998 gives you the right to access information held about you. Your right of access can be exercised in accordance with that Act. Any access request may be subject to a fee not exceeding £10 to meet our costs in providing you with details of the information we hold about you.

9

How to contact us

If you have any questions, comments or requests regarding this privacy policy, please feel free to contact us in any of the following ways: